now let's go back to "on the record". >> greta: tonight, senators john mccain and lindsay graham, john bolton, pat buchanan, state department official, liz cheney and former secretary of state henry kissinger are all here. this is a special edition of on the record. >> four years later almost after the noble peace prize has been awarded where do we stand. in case you haven't heard, bin laden is dead but that is not a foreign policy. there is no coherent foreign policy when we need one.

>> we hope something is going to change. >> one of the ramifications of obama presidency the defense is not going to grow. >> the coordinated preplanned against the consulate on september 11th is an outrage. >> it appears to many americans that this administration failed to adequately protect u.s. personnel. >> the president has been skipping his daily intelligence briefings. >> with respect to iran i want to see a diplomatic resolution to the problem. >> the president's iran policy lacks credibility. the question is whether or not is whether the defense budget is big enough to deal with the major crisis and potential challenges around the world. >> as far as the middle east is concerned, his national policy has been abysmal failure. >> the arrogance and dishonesty is breathtaking. >> there is a circle the wagon

operation around barack obama that nobody is going to penetrate. >> very close con tackle with countries like turkey and jordan that immediately border syria and obviously israel which is having already grave concerns as we do about movements of chemical weapons that might occur in such a chaotic atmosphere. >> are we better off in the middle east now than we were four years ago? absolutely not. why? because the policies of the administration and the way its been handling itself. >> when a president of the united states apologizes to religious fanatics while killing young americans, this is profoundly wrong. >> we would like to hold obama accountable for an absolute disastrous foreign policy. >> greta: president obama starting off the second term with a foreign policy crisis. four americans murdered in libya.

the obama administration being hammered for the handling of the terror attack in benghazi. for weeks the administration claiming that the september 11th attacks were a response to a youtube video, same video that sparked violent protests around the world including outside the embassy in cairo. since the arab spring we have seen big changes in the volatile region. how will he handle foreign policy in the next four years? we asked our experts. >> i know it's a complicated issue, but is there a way to describe our current foreign policy? >> it's a very complex situation because we have a number of foreign policy problems. iran, syria. evolution of the arab spring and we have number of fundamental changes that is going on in the distribution of the economy and

china, conditions in russia. there are a number of problems anew environment. we have not developed a coherent approach because in the first term you learn your job. that is the challenge that the administration is facing. >> people look to the united states for leadership. they look to us because we have for so long been in a position where we've been able because of our resources and military strength, because of our values, we've been able to keep the peace. we have been able to make sure that enemies feared us and make sure allies could count on us. with we step back as we did during president obama's first term and i'm afraid we're going to do the next term ease back and you see when there a vacuum. people that don't share our

interests diving into that vacuum. >> i traveled all over the middle east. every leader i talked to believe the united states is weak in leaving. they are having to accommodate to that eventuality. whether it be the saudis or you name the country they are accommodating to american weakness and withdrawal. that means that they accommodate then to some of these terrorist outfits such as al-qaeda and others that they are going to have to live witness because there is not any way to get rid of them. >> i see the mideast deteriorating. i think the last four years has been a failure by the obama administration to realistically to assess the threat that growing. arab spring we didn't see coming but after that the administration had a hands off policy.

when they were trying to pull khadafy out libya came for a killing zone. if it weren't for secretary clinton and ambassador rice pushing obama, it would have been worse. we need to be training a libyan army to replace the militias. i went in september of last year with marco rubio and john mccain and myself went to libya. we came back and said the biggest threat to libya making it is these militias. we need to help the libyans train a national army. they were willing to pay for it. in egypt we really led from behind. this idea of having a hands off policy toward syria is about to blochb the whole region up. the war is coming to israel. it's affecting turkey and other

places. so i believe that if they don't lead from the front that syria and iran are going to coming together and we're going to have a major conflict in the mideast. >> what was the best thing we got out the arab spring so far? >> the fact is authoritarian regimes have been overthrown the likelihood they will simply be replaced by other authoritarian regimes or some in some cases, yemen and libya qualify here the countries will descend into anarchy. parts will be controlled by al-qaeda and quote, unquote, success of the government controls very little territory. i think overall the arab spring has not brought democracy and light to middle east. it has brought a deterioration of the security situation and deterioration of the american interests and those of our friends and allies like israel and arab states. >> greta: there is such a

division when it comes to domestic policy. on the foreign platform, when you go the foreign policy there is a lot of things and it's hard to distinction? >> there are big differences between this president and many democratic predecessors. this is president that does not believe, say that not because i think it, he said it himself, he doesn't believe an america ascending in the world. he went to the united nations in 2009 and said any world order elevates one nation among the other won't survive. he really i think came into office believing the world is safe fer america is less powerful. >> greta: but what was done. this administrations nts are in a position where they try to maintain or manage.

you can't really correct any of these crisis in the world? >> he is not doing a very good job of maintaining or managing. to the extent he has success, whether it was the killing of osama bin laden, the drone program, that is building on programs that were started under the bush administration. at every turn whether you are talking about not leading any kind of stay behind force in iraq or announcing a date certain for our withdrawal from afghanistan, not supporting the people in iran when they rose up in 2009 in the green revolution, walking away from what solid support of democracy in the bush administration treating the war on terror like law enforcement officer but determining that we're going to bring terrorists on american soil. >> greta: it didn't happen. >> it didn't happen because people rose out.

>> greta: how about this question. do we have more influence in the world now or do we have less influence? >> we had more influence, but the present world has a greater need of being reshaped because we operated within the structure. the president has to change the structure. if you look at the middle east we are used to thinking of states because that is what we have learned all our lives. in the middle east states created only around 1920. they were result of world war

one and built by european countries and had their own rivalries. so countries like syria, iraq, jordan, those states had no existence before that and some more recent. so when the revolution occurs there what you see you may have she'ites and sunnis in one state and then sunnis in other state and then you may have a tendency of uniting the religious groups across borders so that not only do the states have revolutions but the whole system is in upheaval there. >> greta: how do you describe the president's policy as it relates to syria, iran, egypt that area of the world? >> i think president obama is agrees with me. he is none interventionist.

he want to stay out of the syrian war. with regard to iran you i think the president and pentagon do not want war with iran, but there are people in this country certain lynette net and his allies in the united states on the threat to build nuclear weapons by iran, i think the president doesn't want to fight another war. i think he is right in. that we have to engage in nation building at home, she right in tune with the american people. >> i think it's very clear the weak american leadership sent a signal to the middle east that we don't want to lead. iraq, one of more tragic aspects we lost over 4,000 brave young americans. we intended to leave a residual force. president didn't want to see it happen.

we see iraq unrafblg. we see a dramatic increase to violence. they just condemned their vice president to death. al-qaeda is now set up training camps in western iraq. iranian airplanes are flying iraq from syria and our failure to intervene in any way and establishing a safe zone, al-qaeda is coming in there in droves. when this thing ends and all conflicts do end, we're going to have one heck of a time with the al-qaeda elements that have moved in to syria and it it's going to be very difficult. iranians continue on path to nuclear weapons. afghanistan is also unraveling to the degree that everybody thinks that the suns leaving because that is what the president has said. they are accommodating to that eventually quality. >> north america, northern mali

has been taken over by al-qaeda. weak leadership has led to enormous, i say long term challenges and chaos and frankly difficulties that we will be fo. >> which. >> which country would keep you more up at night, egypt or syria? >> probably syria. egypt is very concerning also but syria is much more near term problem in terms of the upheaval that is under way in syria in relation to iran. we know the north koreans built a nuclear power plant in syria. if syria falls apart and if the extremists take over in this situation, you have a real potential for a spillover. i think one of the places we should have acted sooner was in syria to move in there, to

provide support, to provide assistance and tell people, look we will support those that are fighting for their freedom. we are the good guys. situation where the iranians are working so hard to help ensure that those that have an extremist ideology prevail. working so hard to assure that assad stays in power, you have to say to yourself why do the iranians care so deeply about syria. i would be more concerned about syria given its history. frankly, across the arab world you've got regions and countries you've got people that are in power who do not support or see the world we do. >> greta: everybody is grateful that osama bin laden is gone but is there anything about the obama foreign policy that you think has been smart or something that you think you would have done, as well? >> i have to give them credit initially for perceiving the

relationship between what happens in afghanistan and what happens in pakistan, but unfortunately the approach they took having emphasized that linkage was to believe that we quo withdraw militarily from afghanistan and negotiate with the taliban. the taliban take that as a sign of weakness and unfortunately the linkage with a tha we tried to understand and prevent pakistan from falling as well, now i think is going to borne out if taliban retakes afghanistan, the odds of radicals taking over the government in pakistan goes up. >> greta: straight ahead, as the u.s. troop withdrawal from afghanistan approaches, president obama has big decisions to make. what kind of policy toward afghanistan will we see in his second term? hour experts answer that question next. time is running out. iran is poised to double the out

put of enriched uranium. how is israel and u.s. planning to stop iran? that is coming up. with verizon. hurry in this saturday and sunday for great deals. likehe lucid by lg, free. or the galaxy nexus by samsung, free.

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♪ that i would rather, rather ♪ rather, rather be ♪ [ male announcer ] dip into sabra hummus and discover a little taste of the world. enjoy sabra dips. adventure awaits. . >> greta: 2014, that is when the u.s. plans to end the combat role in afghanistan ending the longest war in our nation's history. how many troops will remain in afghanistan after that is still unclear. the obama administration has lots of decisions to make. how are the president's policies unfolding in the second term. once again our foreign policy experts. >> when afghanistan ends, it needs to end well. we need to bring most of our troops home.

if you left 15,000 or 20,000 forces that would be the end of the taliban and they would have a chance. if we leave afghanistan like we did iraq it will fall apart. he had a lot of problems to deal with iraq. not leaving any american forces in iraq and 10,000 or 12,000 would have done it has let the country deteriorate. iran has more influence than iraq now than ever. they are overflying iraq to reinforce syria. it breaks my heart we were so close to winning in iraq and obama administration dropped the ball. if they talked about leaving afghanistan rather than getting it right that will harm us for decades. when it comes to iran, why should the iranians believe that the obama administration is serious about stopping their nuclear program when all we talk about is leaving the region? if you are going to allow a side to kill 32,000 of their own

citizens and do nothing about it because you have a hands off approach to syria, what kind of signal is that to iran. >> greta: afghanistan, as you look at afghanistan where is that country headed? >> when you make a list, like we are doing here, you can see in anyone would want to be a president. its problematic country. you have all the other countries and we say that by that time the government will be able to stand on its own feet. i think that is very problematic assumption. i think that government will be under horrendous pressure from

the taliban and many from other surrounding countries because historically afghanistan has been sort of the transit area for the forces that emerge in that area. i have understand that desire to withdraw, but i've been urging that we try to engage the other surrounding countries in some agreement as to permissible actions inside afghanistan so it doesn't turn into a terror center and it doesn't become through neglect the place where all the countries begin to fight their own battles. this is in the context of what i said earlier. we cannot do everything ourselves, but i don't think we should leave afghanistan without

a political framework that prevents its being turned again into a terrorist center. >> greta: six years from now, we're talking about afghanistan what would be the conversation? >> it depends who follows barack obama. if we continue down the path we are on and we end up with massive troop draw downs like it looks as we are on the path to, you could have an afghanistan where the taliban and allies in control where al-qaeda has found a foothold. all the sacrifice we have made we end up with situation we saw in the 1990s where we walked away from it. again terrorists that want to kill americans that threaten our security gain a foothold. i hope that is not what we see but i don't have a lot of

confidence from this president that we will lead in afghanistan that we can ensure that our enemies don't take control again. >> greta: four years from now talking about afghanistan what will the conversation be? >> it would be about how the new taliban government has repressed women's freedom almost entirely, how afghanistan is once more a base for al-qaeda international terrorism. quite possibly how pakistani taliban has taken over that country and supply of nuclear weapons. the obama administration policy of withdrawing americans from afghanistan is going to bring taliban back to power. the only question is when. with will it be 2014 or 2013. this is more bad news. >> greta: coming up, the clock is ticking. iran racing to build nuclear

weapons and israeli trying to stop them before the time runs out. israeli leaders and president obama have had their differences over iran. will that change in the next four years? that is coming up next. new prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as plosec otc. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants. so grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer one pill each morning. 2hours. zero heartburn. satisfaion guaranteed or your money back.

>>. >> greta: the race is on. iran working to build nuclear weapons and israel hoping to stop them before it's too late. benjamin netanyahu urging the world to stop iran in its tracks but so far president obama has resisted. using sanctions to try to stop iran. now, the question, will president obama change his tactics in his second term. >> what is our relationship with israel right now? >> fractured. not nearly trustworthy as it used to be. president obama says the right things but actions speak louder than words. when you put israel under the

bus to talking about '67 borders and you talk about israeli settlements and you don't talk about rockets coming coming into israel. you send the wrong message. when you leak stories to "new york times" that israel may attack on iran it makes it sound like israel is bigger problem. if i was one of the ayatollahs in iran i would think americans talk a lot but don't do much. let me tell you if they get a nuclear weapon. every sunni state is going to want one and iranian leaders will share it with terrorist groups. reason that thousands of died on war on terror and not millions.

if iranians get a nuclear weapon it won't be long that terrorists will get it. >> greta: how do the iranians view the united states government and americans? >> i think they see a clear path to achieving their long sought objective of getting deliverable nuclear weapons. sanctions is causing some economic pain. they would like to find a way to get rid of them. they have no fear that they ultimately use force against them. only cloud is what israel might do. absent an israeli attack is most likely iran gets nuclear weapons and very soon. >> greta: that description sort of suggests that americans looks feckless and week and may be no moment if they do go after a nuclear weapon and they see it's an economic hardship in the

short run? >> i think they have concluded that despite president obama's rhetoric he is not really serious when he says all options are on the table. i think they have discerned the real administration policy despite its denials they think they can contain and deter a nuclear iran. i think that is delusional policy. in any event it doesn't stop with iran. saudi arabia, egypt and turkey get nuclear weapons as well but oint of view they don't see united states as an obstacle. >> greta: is there any indication that the sanctions are working and i don't mean difficult for the iran people but working in terms of putting the brakes on their nuclear weapons program? >> no. there is no evidence it is put allege brake on the nuclear weapons program. there is evidence they are working in the sense one gets

that iranians might be willing to consider negotiations. as a veteran of some of these negotiations on other matters one enters negotiations like this, one has to know how to bring it to a conclusion. otherwise, when it get dragged on into a series of endless technicalities in which the outcome is always kept inside but always out of reach. it has not yet affected anything that resign is doing with their nuclear program. >> greta: our relationship with israel is what? >> tenuous. this president, again, i think he has made it very clear, he said he wanted to put distance and space between the united states and israel. we are facing a threat of an

iranian nuclear weapon very different intelligence assessment about what the timing is. i point out the israelis if you look back at history have been more than than right. i mentioned the case the north koreans building the react they are the syrian desert and israelis found that and not us. they clearly face a direct threat. >> greta: what would you do if you were president on this? >> the president has to consider many different aspects. what i would probably do is try to put forward a proposal of which we understand by an end of iranian military nuclear

capability. their statements up to now have been varied and opposed to nuclear weapons. let's say they are opposed to nuclear military capability. let's talk about the enrichment program. there is shade of meaning because if you say weapon, that might imply that you are indifferent to the agent of principal material but if you let the principal material run loose there will be so much available. in 2007 there was a c.i.a. report that had been published that predicted that iran, by 2015, could have up to seven nuclear weapons. that is reality that could happen. if that happens we will live in a different world. i would have my staff, if i were

president and technically come up with an adequate proposal that prevents that from happening and then see one can incorprate that as a first step into some negotiations. recognize if that fails, we have to two choices, either step up the pressure or to acquiesce. i would be in favor of stepping up the pressure. >> greta: coming up, alarms are going off. the u.s. is $16 trillion in debt. is there any sign of relief in the next four years? our experts answer that, next. [ morgan ] what's better than epic offers from visa like 20% off ea sports madden nfl 13? you should never go forth and fourteen, you can't do that. [ morgan ] getting a chance to hang out with madden in his game room. blue go. did you hear the pop? [ morgan ] and barbecue with madden. watch football with madden.

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>> live from america's news headquarters, i'm marianne rafferty. larry hagman, the star of the popular 80s television drama, "dallas," has died. he passed awayo friday. he played j.r. ewing, a conniving oil man, died of complications from throat cancer. he had also earlier battled liver cancer. he began his career in 1965 on "i dream of genie. " he was 81 years old. a massive gas explosion, rocking downtown springfield, massachusetts. the blast injuring more than a dozen people and destroying two buildings.

firefighters and gas company workers who were investigating a gas leak are among those injured. the explosion shattering glass in a three-mile radius. witnesses say bricks and glass were flying everywhere. i'm marianne rafferty. now back to "on the record." for your latest headline, go to foxnews.com. t tops $16 trillion, largest foreign owner of our debt is china. now, early in the first term, the president says we can't keep just borrowing from china what will the president say in a second term? here is what experts expect to hear. >> it's a great power rival and competitor of the united states. and i think we may be on a collision course with china over the east china sea, which china claims and japan has claimed for a number of years and one problem here is that japanese are saying that the security treaty we have with them obliges us to send air

and naval power in their behalf in case there is a clash with china over these islands so i think that is a problem area, china being tough in the south china sea, claiming those territories they understand tie waun straits stay out of the yellow sea. i think we're headed for collisions with china but neither country has interest whatever in any kind of war with each other. it's going to be a tough relationship. we're going to be bumping up against them for decades. >> how do you describe our current relationship with china? >> chinese have become more assertive and chinese have now got an aircraft carrier which is a statement to project power, they've been very hand fisted and have united other countries in the region in the south china sea. i think that the chinese have been a great disappointment

from our expectations in making a gradual transition towards democracy which has been seeing a latest exchange of power by a group of men that, none of us know their names. i'm convinced chinese are going to have huge problem was a group of people, 1.3 billion people who have accessed a chumpx communications, social networking and they're going to want more than that they're getting from their government now of the an up heaveal, i predict serious problems with domestic disturbances because they're just not going to sit still for that. >> greta: what do you think the chinese think about us? >> i would imagine they think that, you know, it's hard to believe they see anything from this administration that leads them to told us with esteem or respect. you know? they watch how we react with

other leaders around the world. and when they see the president of the united states bowing to other world leaders and thomasing flexibility to the russians, none that have is a sign of strength. when they see the united states has to cut the size of the nuclear arsen yil yal if we want to convince north koreans to do the same? that is the joke to them, not the real world. this isn't a president they respect. >> is there a occurrencey war with them that impacts our economy? that we need to worry? >> i think the treaty have taken place and chinese have won. we lost six million manufacturing jobs in the first decade of the 21 century. 50,000 factories have been moved to china. they kbraixly sucked factories all out of the united states, then, they started producing goods they got the technology,

investment. they started sending jobs, not the jobs, goods back to the united states. that is why we've had trillions of dollars in trade deficits with china. managers of the trade policy with china, democrats and republicans, i think are guilty of real political malpractice on a large scale. >> greta: what is the chinese viewpoint of what they're doing vis-a-vis north korea? >> almost any country, chinese goes back than our memory. because of the great war, many of the invasions of china have come by bypassing the great wall, along north korea. and... also, the japanese

intend to conquer asiana started in korea. so china, korea is an extremely sensitive point. what i think the chinese would like best is an outcome would be a nonnuclear, peaceful, north korea. they would not want a unified korea because it would seem that the high-tech korea and yellow ribbon with modern weapons would resurrect his storeal cal threats in their minds. also for them, the korean war as the image they thought as a symbolic significance. they took on the united states when they were very weak and

came out from their point of view, achieving their effectiveness. >> greta: straight ahead, it's not just iran. another big nuclear threat, north korea. what should the obama administration do in next four years? what will it do? that is next. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ we find the best, sweetest crafor red lobster that we can find. [ male annncer ] it's time for crabfest at red lobster! this year, try 1 of 5 entrees.

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>> greta: another big foreign policy problem for the u.s.. north korea leaders warning hostile u.s. policy could spark a nuclear war n april after north korea launched a long range rocket, the u.s. led the push for broader sanctions against north korea. then, the obama administration cancel aid deal so how will president obama deal with this volatile nation in the second term? is north korea contained in the sense they haven't done anything provocative recently. we don't hear much from them there. is no sort of discussion about them, are they sort of on hold and quiet now? so there isn't a lot of attention ton them? >> i don't think so. i think the fact the obama administration didn't engage in concessions to the north koreans the way the bush administration did, has been a

small plus but that doesn't mean that the north korea nuclear weapons program hasn't been proceeding deep within the mountains of north korea. i think the united states actually lost a big opportunity which kim jong-il died and north koreans had to go through succession, that was a period of vulnerability we might have been able to take advantage of to see the collapse of the north korean state and reunification of the peninsula. if the new ruler is able to consolidate power then we're going to see this unhappy movie continue and north korea, which tried to build nuclear reactors in syria until israelies destroyed it in september, 2007, and which will sell anything to anyone with hard occurrencey will remain a nuclear proliferation threat around the world. >> this is still the most brutal dictatorship on earth. they have brutalizing 250,000

people who they starve and beat to death. and i don't know what is going to happen to north korea. but the key to it again is china. chinese should without the chinese support, the economy of north korea could collapse. just as china is playing a role in the un in regards to syria. >> when i think about north korea i think about a particularly in the context of nuclear proliferation. and if you look at one of the greatest threats the nation faces, the president faces it's that threat. how are we going to enjoy -- ensure we're doing everything to protect ourselves against nuclear weapons? >> take the north korean situation. chinese would persuade north koreans not to go you'll out and build a large arsenal. we have to tell them if north korea continues to build or test nuclear weapons, we will

take off from south korea the pro hibation we have of south korea buildings and in which case i don't think chinese would like it much. i think unless you're willing to make statements to these folks you don't get much cooperation. china looks upon north korea rightly. they would be unhappy if the north korea regime were overthrown they see capitolist democracy, marching right up to their border right on the border. >> what about north korea? how do you describe what the president has done? >> the obama administration is like the bush administration, let it get out of hand. you give them food sh they promise to stop stepz development. they continue to build bombs. >> tafsh them to death?

>> no. ice yol yait the regime, try to bring out the best in the people. but ice yol yait them. at the end of the day, they're starving their people. >> they are isolated already. i mean, people are starving to death there. >> you go there a lot and represent the best of our country. but the japanese and koreans are not getting nuclear weapons because they know we're in the region. chinese have a lot of leverage over north korea. if you want to it change have the chinese help you. the chinese are making this a joke. and russians are running over us in the un and feeling no threat. very a tougher policy with china. >> coming up from nuclear threat to economic threat. the u.s. facing tough challenges ahead. our special edition of on the record continues next.

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president obama starting off the second term with major foreign policy challenges there is a fallout from ben gazy. lawmakers and citizens demanding to know what happened on september 11th. plus, the u.s. is gearing up for a troop withdrawal from afghanistan and nuclear threats from iran and north korea still mount sog what will the president do in the next four years? we're ke